O testemunho final da Mari (SPIN)

 

The end is a new beginning.

I am sad about this ending of the chapter, but at some point, everything has an end. Life is full of endings and beginnings. This is the way of life. I'm excited to see what life has to offer for me and trying to focus on that. It's been a fantastic one-year journey, full of unforgettable moments, and deep down, I knew It was only for some time.

I've mentioned how grateful I'm for this beautiful opportunity, and I will say one last time I love you, Portugal. You've been very nice to me for a whole year and showed me all the beauty of yourself. You are such a unique, warm, tasty, calm, multicultural, full of nature country. I don't think I have all the words to express my feelings.

During the project, I developed many skills. I participated in very Interesting tasks, but the goal when I was moving To Portugal was to get to know myself better, and spend some time alone, which I did, and I'm on my way to learning more. It's a lifetime discovery, and I'm ready to know more. I've met many excellent people, they had a remarkable impact on me, and deep and meaningful conversations gave me more than we can imagine sometimes.

In my mind, It's full of lovely memories, which I will keep to myself In my heart, and I'm going to remember and smile every time thinking about Portugal. I guess this Is It. Thank you, SPIN and especially Giulia,





Love you guys. Hugs. 

O testemunho No. 2 da Annamaria (Spin)

Hi everyone, My name is Annamaria and I'm from Estonia. It’s my first time living abroad and also volunteering. I'm working for an organization called Spin. My work mostly is to go to schools, talk with youngsters about my journey here, collect signatures, take part in different projects, and a few times a month cook in the kitchen with other Spin volunteers. My volunteering is so different each week and I love it, you never get bored.

My chapter in Portugal started October 2021, so 7 months ago and so far it's been one hell of a ride, with a lot of laughs, meeting new people, Learning about their countries, traveling across Portugal I have been making amazing memories. It has been filled with ups and downs but overall getting this opportunity was one of the BEST things that could've happened to me ,I’ve learned so much about myself, also faced my biggest fear (stage fright) and this opportunity has opened my mind a lot more. I’ve seen a lot of different places and met a lot of people across the world, 

Almost everyone has taught me something and I’m glad that I had this opportunity to meet them.
In the beginning, yes, it was a little bit hard because of homesickness and the new environment, also I didn’t know a lot of people but it changed quickly cause other volunteers and overall people here are super open-minded, welcoming and it’s easy to connect with them.

I’ve had to say goodbye to some good friends, it’s always sad and hard but that’s how life works. It sends people to our path to teach us something, even if it’s just a small thing. No one is in our life without a reason.

Living in Lisbon has been a challenge for me. I live with 6 other people and also I'm sharing a room but it's an interesting experience. I'm used to living alone and having my own space but here I don't have that and sometimes it's really hard but luckily my flatmates are amazing people, they are like my family here. We travel together, have dinner together and we just fit living together, sometimes things get overwhelming. Everyone is from a different county so the ideas always don't match. But we figure out quickly how to compromise and how to make our lives together better.

I love the city in every way. Lisbon is a very easy city to fall in love with, it has so many opportunities to offer. It's beautiful, people are nice, you never get bored here. Once my project ends I’ll miss this city a lot. For sure I’ll be back here, I have a lot of good friends here who I’ll stay in contact with for sure!

I fell in love with the country overall, the more I travel the more I fall in love, cause every place is like a fairytale. So far I’ve been to  Algarve, Porto, Nazare, and a lot of wonderful places. I love nature and that’s why my favorite place is Sintra, with its amazing nature, castles, and palaces. Every time I go there it’s like my first time, there's always some new place to discover.

I still have 2 months left here and I can't wait what places I will discover more and what surprises Portugal has to offer me.

O testemunho final da Isa (Junta)

Last Testimony

Hi there! I am Isa and I am 24 years old and I am coming from Spain. Almost one year ago, I decided to take one

of the best decision in my life: Being a volunteer in Lisbon, I´ve always wanted to do such a volunteering, so searching the opportunity it wasn´t difficult to me. Now, with all the memories I have in my mind, I feel grateful and first of all I wanna say thank you Spin for selected me, without you it would not been the same Since the very first moment I contact Spin I feel this could be a good association, and I was sure at the end.

Being abroad one year is not easy, specially the first
months without really knowing someone. You start dating some volunteers, start seeing them more frequently
(hey, let´s go for a coffee, let´s go for a walk…), and then they became your friends and your family here.

Also, I would like to thank them all because you were one of the best important parts of my volunteering. Starting from the first person I met till the last one. Lots of trips, lots of laughs, lots of sunset in beautiful miradors…. What can I say? If you are planning going to Lisbon, do not think twice!! You want regret it.

Moreover, my time in the school has been also nice (not always to be honest) but being with such a fantastic group of kids that everyday they see me coming from the door, going to hug me is one of the best feelings ever, it makes you feel comfortable , happy and the most important thing: loved. 

Teaching Spanish to kids and teenagers it was also a good opportunity of improving my “teaching skills”, as it was for me the first time with that age. Nevertheless, CAF Quintas dos Frades, you will always be in my heart.

So, as I said in my second testimony, I guess it is my time and say: “Be happy and see you other time in the future”. 

Love you and kisses,

Isa

O testemunho da Elena

Two and a half weeks have passed since I arrived in Lisbon and it seems to be here longer time, but with still many things to discover. 

I can considere these early days like “the phase of adaptation”, in which I knew the other people and the new life that was waiting for me. I found very nice people, especially during the welcome day at the Association, I received clear and useful informations from my coordinator and the other volunteers prepared us an exquisite lunch that we all shared together.

Another equally important and significant moment was to start the project in the kindergarten. The first day me and my colleague Lara, from Italy too, were introduced to the working team and visited the structure, but the day after we immediately started with kids (from 0 to 3 years old).They are very cute and sometimes funny, less when they scream! We mainly help educators for every moment of the day and we are learning Portuguese with them.

The city and surroundings lend themselves to being visited easily thanks to the metro card and we started to see also small towns and landscapes just outside Lisbon, leaving aside the most common destinations in the city center (we will think about them soon).

The most hard part of adaptation was, definitely, to live with other 8 people, sharing the common spaces and organize to respect the timing of others too, but it getting more easier every day, fortunately they are very nice. To conclude I would add that I’m very enthusiastic about what awaits me this year and I am proactive in ensuring that become it unique.

O testemunho da Carla

Em Outubro, a organização para a qual colaboro em Bordeaux, informou-nos de que deveríamos realizar um vídeo que servisse para nos apresentarmos. Para isso, deveríamos frequentar uma formação audiovisual onde seriam dados alguns conceitos que nos iriam ajudar na realização do vídeo: correcto manuseamento de todos os equipamentos necessários, atenção à luz, diferentes enquadramentos, recolha das imagens, escolha das mesmas e, por fim, edição. Uma das condições para a realização do vídeo era organizarmo-nos em pares, sendo que os membros do grupo deveriam pertencer aos diferentes programas que constituem o projecto (European Voluntary Service e Service Civique).

Formados os pares, eu e a minha colega marcamos uma reunião para decidir o que iríamos fazer e rapidamente passamos à acção. Infelizmente, a ideia do vídeo partiu de mim (inspirada num vídeo de que gosto bastante sobre Coimbra realizado por estudantes estrangeiros) e era bastante ambiciosa: de forma resumida, a nossa intenção era recriar um dia das nossas vidas em Bordeaux até chegarmos à organização para a qual colaboramos, ao fim da tarde, onde nos encontraríamos. O guião estava escrito: ambos saíamos de casa, caminhávamos, eu seguia de barco, ela de tram, visitávamos diferentes praças e museus, almoçávamos, passeávamos mais um pouco, eu comia um pastel de nata, ela comia um cannelle e seguíamos para a organização.

- Quanto tempo achas que precisamos? Uma tarde para filmar isto tudo?

- Sim, chega de certeza.

O primeiro dia de filmagens foi, como seria de esperar, uma chapada de realidade: percebemos que íamos demorar mais tempo do que imaginamos, fomos confrontadas com o facto de que o nosso plano inicial era demasiado ambicioso e percebemos também que, por muita boa vontade que tenhamos, há muitos factores externos que nos podem condicionar (nomeadamente, as condições meteorológicas). A juntar a tudo isto, ambas temos uma certa tendência para o perfeccionismo – para quê gravar uma cena só uma vez quando podemos gravar três ou quatro vezes, certo? É difícil imaginar que mais alguma coisa não decorresse de acordo com o planeado, a não ser que perdêssemos todas as imagens que demoraram imensas horas a gravar. E claro que foi isso que aconteceu!

Partimos para o segundo dia de filmagens com uma atitude mais firme: deveríamos deslocar-nos aos diferentes locais e fazer a cena, que gravaríamos apenas o número de vezes necessário até estar aceitável. Saída de casa, caminhar, tram… Vamos andar mais uma estação no tram porque aquela senhora olhou para a câmara… Barco, Place de La Bourse, Place de La Victoire… A história começava a compor-se. Precisamos de outro dia de gravações para filmar alguns locais importantes para a história que ainda não tínhamos conseguido filmar, desistimos de outros e… voilá! Demos as gravações por terminadas.

Finalmente, a parte que eu abomino: editar. Peçam-me tudo, mas não me peçam para editar. É daquelas coisas de que eu não gosto mesmo. Para mais, um vídeo com o formato que desejávamos: o ecrã dividido ao meio para deixar ver as duas histórias a decorrer em simultâneo. Estilo videoclip versão amadora. Acabamos por pedir ajuda a um colega, que teve uma paciência de santo para ouvir as nossas ideias e as fazer cumprir, e a quem já agradeci para cima de 30 vezes. Entretanto, a escolha musical não foi a mais feliz...

Enfim, espero que gostem! 

O testemunho do Duarte

Between the 1st and 8th of December, Črnomelj, in the Southeast part of Slovenia, for those of you who never heard about this town, received 26 young people to discuss and learn more about how to make a difference through social entrepreneurship. 

This training course aimed to provide the participants tools, knowledge and skills on how to build our own project, by sharing our ideas and points of views about a wide range of areas where we can step in. Every participant prepared a presentation about a social enterprise in their country and how it could be implemented in the others participants countries. 

During this training course we also had the chance to see by ourselves how a social enterprise works. We went to Ljubljana and were invited to meet the Skuhna project – a restaurant focused on providing authentic food from Africa, Asia and South America, increasing the employability of migrants from these regions. 

By the end of the project, we were challenged to take on all the knowledge and skills learnt and build our own social enterprise. The mix of cultures and backgrounds created very interesting project ideas that would help to make the difference in our countries.  All the activities inspired us to be the difference we want to see in the world and how we can achieve it. We have to thank all of you who make this project work, specially the Mladinski Center Bit to welcome us and be our home during this intense week. 

Duarte Alves

O testemunho da Elisabetta

Para falar a verdade, não está a resultar nada facil escrever o último testimunho do meu ano de S.V.E. Sinceramente acredito que tudo acontece por uma razão. Exatamente um ano atrás estava eu na casa da minha mãe quando recebí a notícia que tinha sido escolhida da lista de espera porque a rapariga de “primeira escolha” recusou a vaga. Tive que reservar um voo, encontrar um quarto e avisar a minha familia em 10 dias. Hoje, um ano depois, vou ter uma entrevista de trabalho, escreví este artigo e fiz o teste on-line de língua e o resultado foi... C2!

Mas a língua não foi a única coisa que eu aprendí.

A próxima semana vou participar na cerimonia inaugural da Sociedade Portuguesa de Psicologia Clínica, na qual vou empreender uma formação em Psicoterapia de 4 anos.

O trabalho com as crianças na creche durante este ano, além da minha formação em psicologia e dança, deu-me a experiência suficiente para poder ser escolhida para participar num projecto de teatro, música e dança com familias e crianças.

Um dos aspectos pelos quais estou mais agradecida é ter tido a oportunidade de voltar a viver na cidade em que aprendí a dançar, e agora ensino dança naquela mesma escola. Também comecei a dar aulas emo outros espaços de diversão por minha conta e assim pude desenvolver o meu empreendedorismo.

Estas últimas semanas estão a ser bastante puxadas e cheias. O meu último dia de trabalho vou participar na Festa de Carnaval com as crianças. Elas vão vestir fatos de “eco-hérois”, com texidos reciclados costurados pelas minhas colegas. O dia a seguir apanharei um avião para Bolonha para ir visitar a minha associação de envio com a qual manteve os contactos uma vez por mês durante este ano.

Isto tudo para dizer quantas coisas podem mudar quando tu...make up your mind!

Voltaria a fazer a mesma escolha? Claro!

Recomendaria a experiência á outros jovens? Com certeza absoluta!

O testemunho da Nerea

Há 7 meses abandonei a minha casa rumbo a Lisboa e há 7 meses estou a crescer como pessoa e como profissional no meu EVS. E muitas coisas acontecieram durante todos esses meses. 

O meu EVS na Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves (SPEA) é uma das melhores experiências da minha vida. Estou a trabalhar no que eu mais gosto, com um grupo de pessoas incredível e disfrutando todos os dias. Além disso, graças ao trabalho de campo viajo o país de norte a sul, de Miranda do Douro a Sagres, conhecendo Portugal e as suas regiões e tradições. 

No mes de outubro aconteceu umo dos momentos mais importantes no EVS: o On Arrival Training. Caminho a Gerês, lugar onde decorreu o meu On Arrival Training, não tinha muita vontad de estar ali. Eu sou timida, e no momento de conhecer pessoas novas tenho medo e inseguridades, mas no decorrer dos dias em Gerês tudo ese pensamento mudou e foram uns dos dias mais fixes em tudo o meu EVS. Apesar de não dominhar o inglês, conheci montes de pessoas de diferentes nacionalidades (Espanha, Turquia, Austria, Poland, etc), que são agora amigas. Ficar 6 dias no meio da montanha com pessoas diferentes e interesantes foi um dos aprendizajes mais boms de estos meses.

No mes de novembro, aproveitando um fim de semana, visitei Porto com algumas amigas do escritório. Apesar do frio gostei immenso da cidade e comí o prato estrela dali, a francesinha. ADOREI. Foi também o momento ótimo para me reencontrar com muitas das pessoas que conheci no EVS e disfrutar um bocado mais uns dos outos.

Também estou desfrutando de Lisboa, dos sitios mágicos que há nesta bonita cidade e das pessoas que tive sorte a conhecer durante este tempo.

Agora começa o ano com bons propósitos e ainda tenho 5 meses por delante que vão ser iguais ou melhores aos 7 meses anteriores. 

O testemunho do Fran

The people over at Spin asked me to write a blog post to “to share my personal experience with others, as this might help them be aware of the program and get involved”. So I was thinking about what to write about to make you, the reader, involved in an EVS. There were so many topics that came into my mind; I could write about my personal experience, I could write about what EVS consists of, I could describe Lisbon and living in Lisbon, volunteer life, what it feels to leave your hometown for a new place abroad or I could even have the audacity to tell you what to do with your life; do this or do that, how dare you not do this or how dare you not do that! But I will not write about these things. I feel other volunteers have written about all these in a manner and fashion (and enthusiasm) I could not dream of matching. There isn’t much of a point in adding one more to the tens of similar posts in this blog. Scroll down (or up) if reading about the aforementioned topics is what you seek.

But, I have to write about something, therefore I would like to give you a small piece of advice. I strongly recommend you, volunteer in potency, to do your research before joining an EVS. Before engaging in a project like an EVS, which usually implies having to move far away from your house for at least 3 months and up to a whole year, try to understand what becoming a volunteer implies. Get a clear understanding of conditions, tasks, responsibilities and expectations (both yours and from the people you’ll be working with). Go through any information available about the project you are applying for and talk to the people working there to inquire about any doubt you may have. If there were any older volunteers contact them to get a clearer image of the whole picture. Doing and EVS can be a good decision, but shouldn’t be a lighthearted one. 

I might have made it look a wee bit grim, didn’t I? But dread not. I did not mean to scare anybody. In fact, I hope the opposite! EVS is (or at least, can be) such a wonderful experience in one’s lifetime that it is a pity when people do one without really knowing what they were up for and end up having a subpar experience because of this. 

The bottom line is; EVS can be a great option but get to know where you getting in before doing one. If you are interested in doing one, do your research. If you feel the whole thing fits you and what you want to do, go for it! 

Anyway, here goes the third picture.

O testemunho do Nicolò

5 months of Lisbon dominated by 2 states of being, late and busy, especially in the last 2 months, September was particularly challenging for 2 things:

the Feira da Luz and the On-Arrival Training

The first is a traditional festival in the Freguesia of Carnide lasting one month in which there are folkloristic performance, activities related to the Portuguese culture and concerts with both traditional and modern artists, it was the first experience in which I worked in close contact with the staff of Junta de Freguesia de Carnide, I dealt with the reception of the artists, loading and unloading instrumentation and sometimes even taking some pictures. I was very excited to participate, especially because it would have been an excellent opportunity to meet new artists and discover new music, it was very fun but also very tiring, especially on days when there were many activities to keep under control ( Sundays in particular). 

Every weekend for the entire duration of September there I spent working at the Feira except for the week from the 16th to the 22nd, where I was in Gêres for the On-Arrival training with other EVS volunteers currently in Portugal.

 This experience was really refreshing, until then I had not traveled a lot in Portugal yet, so it was an opportunity to get out of Lisbon and be in touch with the nature (The Pousada da Juventude where the training took place was in the middle of Gêres natural park), especially at that time, between the feira and work in the library, I was really tired. 

Also knowing the other volunteers was very interesting and inspiring, a lot of interesting people from many different countries (from India to Thailand to Liechtenstein) with whom we have formed a close-knit group very quickly, the days have been stimulating and varied, I really appreciated the non formal approach and the arguments treaties (perception of other cultures, stereotypes, team building, problem solving) that often led to discussions and debates. In particular, an activity that we have done in the last days and that I appreciated a lot was the one on the workshops: Some volunteers had to propose and organize a 30 minute workshop based on their knowledge and what they could bring to the group, the others could then choose what take part. The workshops were very varied (from traditional dances to cooking to therapy methods on boredom) and they gave me a lot of creative ideas.

The remaining part of September was spent between the last visits to the beach before winter and the final part of Feira da Luz.

October has been less stressful but still full of stuff to do, i returned full time in the library and as I mentioned in the last post, I started giving computer lessons that took place 3 times a week throughout month, at the beginning the subscriptions were not many but within a week I had 5 students! It was not easy, some people did not even know what a computer was, I tried different approaches to teaching trying to find the most suitable and I admit that I was amazed by the improvements achieved by everyone in just 2 weeks. Unfortunately, many people discovered about this training too late and so they could not take part but since the answer was so positive, i'm thinking of re-proposing something similar in the new year. In addition to the EVS I tried to carry out as many personal projects as possible, I continued to compose since I arrived in Lisbon and I managed to release 2 EP of original music and I'm now working on other music to be released for the end of this year I continued to attend the jam sessions in the city, trying to be part of the scene as much as I could, always meeting new musicians, with some of these we decided to form a  I've never been a "traveler" but after the on-arrival I stayed in touch with the other volunteers and I took the opportunity to move a little from Lisbon to see other parts of Portugal and also host people who wanted to come to visit Lisbon.

In particular, one of the projects that most struck was the one in which Costance participated, a French girl, located in the north of Portugal in a small village called Uva in the district of Bragança.

The situation was similar to that in the On Arrival period, I really needed to get out of the city and go to a place more in contact with nature and spend a weekend there was very relaxing and interesting I'm roughly half of my experience here in Portugal, for the future I have other projects that I hope will be able to complete (more in the video area) that I would like to combine with music

We'll see